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would the Sony SCD 5400 Ex make a good transport?

I recently acquired a Sony SCD 5400 hoping it would be an upgrade from my Rega Apollo. While there is much to admire in terms of resolution and PRAT I find the sound has a lot of the digital glare/hardness; strings are quite steely which is tiring. Was wondering if this could be corrected with a (better?)DAC using the Sony as a transport. Or is it better to look for another player. The Sony costs as much as I want to pay for a CD player
rrm
jwm
918 posts
 
No, but I doubt any new tube made today will compare with a new old stock tube from the 50-60's.
podeschi's avatar
podeschi
303 posts
 
Thanks, JWM. I specifically picked the 300.1 so i could pick up a second in a year or two.
podeschi's avatar
podeschi
303 posts
 
Thanks, JWM. I specifically picked the 300.1 so i could pick up a second in a year or two.
nglazer
846 posts
 
I tried it as a transport. Didn't hold a candle to my CEC TL-1x, nor did it even match my old Toshiba 9200 DVD/CD Player, which BTW is a darn good transport. For what you can get one for used, it is a steal.

neal
rfogel8's avatar
rfogel8
192 posts
 
I owned a CEC TL-1 for many years(JWM still owns one) and I'm of the opinion that it's one of the best transports ever made. No big surprise the Sony "didn't hold a candle" to it. Most other dedicated transports didn't hold a candle to it!

The Sony is fine as a one box player, particularly if you own many SACD's, but it really doesn't work very well as a dedicated transport nor have any of the earlier ES models I've tried.

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